You could feel the love at the Smith School IMPACT Learning and Development event in Baltimore. It is not always this way for professionals who work in HR or in Organizational Development. Learning and Development experts are often among the first to have their ambitions thwarted when there are cutbacks. In unenlightened organizations, those on the HR team can too easily feel isolated from the core business, and the decision-makers at the top of the tree. It was not this way when more than sixty of us met at the Smith suite in the University of Maryland Biopark to share our experiences and insights, and to learn from each other. It was great to be in the company of people from Care First, Legg Mason, BGE/Constellation, McCormick, the Boys and Girls Clubs, the City of Alexandria, Inova, UMMC, FPI, NASA, HHS, and others who care about high performance and fulfilled potential. It was wonderful to see how those in the room shared what they knew, and cheered each other on.
This time, the quarterly IMPACT event was co-hosted by CSX, a long-time partner of the Smith School and energetic champions of organization-wide learning. You don’t keep the railroad running (and CSX has 21,000 miles of track east of the Mississippi) unless you know how to solve problems, empower and equip your people, and stay ahead of the competition. Safety is a key part of the Culture at CSX and so Director of Talent Development PC Bryant made sure to brief all of us on the whereabouts of the fire extinguisher and to remind us of common sense safety tips (push in your chair when you leave it. Make sure your bag is not a tripping hazard). Jeff Jones from OD at the University of Maryland Medical Center was quick to assure us that his hospital’s shock trauma unit was only steps away should anyone need it. Feeling safe and well looked after, we could relax and enjoy the rest of the day.
Dr. Rajshree Agarwal, a high-energy and much in-demand professor from Smith’s Management and Organization department shared her research and recommendations around 
rewarding and retaining your best talent. Beware of over-burdening your super stars she cautioned–they WILL burn out. Don’t think money can keep them in place–but try to encourage spin-ins (rather than spin-outs) that will allow the creative, innovative and ambitious to stretch and grow within the company and reap the rewards as “their” enterprise becomes something the parent company can buy or otherwise enrich and advance. Think about who you might lose and what will attract them to stay–for if they leave, they make take a lot of your valuable employees with them. Frantic note-taking from the many people in the room facing high turnover and competitive threats.
CSX’s VP of Strategy, Les Passa, picked up on Rajshree’s theme and set the stage for Janine Pesci’s presentation on Global competency. Although the freight railroad company is U.S. based, there are many global companies who seek to access its expertise.–how can CSX make sure its brightest and best stay on track? How too can the company help its technical experts (people who started as signalmen or welders) gain a wider perspective of their business, learning how global economics effect what the railroad will transport tomorrow–and which commodities it might never see again.
From Gensler, Janine shared a truly impressive range of examples outlining how the architecture and design company prepares people of all nationalities and backgrounds to work all over the world. Gensler knows its growth will not be in the U.S. and that most of its new employees will have been born and raised far from its San Francisco HQ. They make sure that visitors to America are met at the airport and oriented to life and work here. They provide opportunities for many of their staff to lead projects in cultures entirely different to their own (Shanghai for six months anyone?) and, at a more modest level, they encourage all their offices worldwide to participate in learning lunches where the food and the table settings will demonstrate what a business lunch will really look like–and what you should do and not do at dinner–in every latitude and longitude.
Dr. Karen Gardner discussed the distance learning options they are creating for the far-flung and highly educated workforce at ManTech. The NoVa company deals with many high security contracts for the Department of Defense. ”We need modules that are short–less than 15 minutes–and can run in a shack in Afghanistan” said Karen. “Bells and whistles are no use to us but our workforce is hungry for information that will help them pass cybersecurity exams or keep their project management skills current”.
Bells and whistles were popular with the lifelong learners in Baltimore–literally. PC and the folks from CSX had provided goodie bags for all at IMPACT. One is never too old to enjoy a train whistle, one of the train-related treats we all took home.
As everyone in the room began to play conductors, PC took the opportunity for a teachable moment: if you can help your learners imagine someone else’s life, you can teach them relevant lessons based on worlds other than their own. PC explained how numerous groups from CSX have benefited from a day spent with Smith faculty and Sue Boardman from the Gettysburg Foundation, walking the civil war battlefield. “You don’t have to know much about the Battle of Gettysburg to be moved by the stories of great leadership and terrible failure that resulted in loss of life” said PC. ” Help people learn from the lessons of others–take themselves out of themselves and their own environment to help them learn to see the world differently. ”
Muriel Maignan Wilkins was more concerned to help us see ourselves as others see us. Muriel is the co-author of the recently published book Own The Room. She talked about the need for effective 
leaders to be able to stand up for what is important to them–and to connect well with others. She also talked about the importance of appearance and consistency of behavior and warned that we may imagine ourselves very differently from how we actually are in the company of others. I have real and recent experience of this. The photo on the left below is a self-portrait I snapped on the way to a wedding a couple of weeks ago. I thought I looked like that all day. Not so. The second picture below demonstrates that serenity and composure are not my signature emotions. More work needed.
The next IMPACT event will take place on Monday, August 5 at Gallup in Washington DC. If you would like to join this group of HR and OD professionals to learn from best practices and to discover how the Smith School and its network can support your organization, please contact Liz Barron lbarron@rhsmith.umd.edu or call 301 405 5387. You can REGISTER HERE for IMPACT on August 5.
